Recent Graduates Say Degrees Are Worth Time, Money Spent

I haven’t read the full results of the study from the American Council on Education, but the numbers are impressive. Say what you will about debt, job market challenges, and learning outcomes, 89% satisfaction is pretty high. From the American Council on Education press release:

The more than 2.4 million students who receive an undergraduate degree in the United States each year have college experiences that are individual and diverse, but the students are nearly unanimous in their opinion of the value of their degree. Polling conducted by The Winston Group on behalf of the American Council on Education (ACE) indicates that 89 percent of young alumni found their education worth the time and money spent.

In early 2010, ACE conducted a national survey of recent college graduates (25-39 years old) of two- and four-year institutions about their undergraduate experiences. Following on the 2010 survey, ACE conducted identical institution-level surveys of graduates from 22 individual colleges and universities which volunteered to participate in the study.

There is sure to be some debate over this, but it reminds us that higher education is consumer driven and pricing power may still be in the hands of the producers.

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While it is true that the only external resource that you need to start an
online business is a computer and a connection, you must have some
personal qualities as well, because without these them, it is going to be
a lot more difficult to achieve success – not necessarily impossible, but
definitely far more difficult.
The first thing that you have to bring to your business is an absolute
determination to succeed. From the very beginning, you have to be
completely, 100% determined that whatever you do is going to
succeed, without exception. You have to be willing to do whatever it
takes to achieve that success, even acknowledging that there will
sometimes be a ‘cost’ involved (e.g. less time with your family in the
early days).
You must also accept that there is work to be done.
If you have not already done so, when you start searching the net for
information about starting your own business, you will find that there is
a lot of nonsense flying about, and you have to learn to recognize it for
what it is.
There is no secret, magic formula that is somehow going to
mysteriously transform you from an individual who has no money in
your bank account to one with a million dollars, in six months or less.
That is called the lottery, not business, but you will undoubtedly see
products that make outrageous claims of this nature.
These products are successful because everybody is looking for the
secret shortcut to success that means they do not have to do any work.
Don’t fall for this garbage. There is no secret, there is no magic formula
– success is in direct proportion to the amount of effort you put in, end
of story.
You have to be organized and focused, and you have to have (and work
to) a plan. If a job needs doing, then in the early days at least, it is
down to you to get it done, and it won’t get done if you are
disorganized, lacking in focus or have no plan.
You have to be a little thick skinned too, because when you tell people
that you are trying to earn money on the internet, many of them (none
of whom have any idea what they are talking about) will mock you and
suggest that you are crazy. Ignore it, and bolster your spirits by
remembering that it is you who will have the last laugh!